Regarding yeast, the Can You Brew It Guys have been using WLP002 for all their Deschutes clones -- they got Obsidian and Black Butte Porter right, but missed Mirror Pond.

This yeast doesn't attenuate particularly high, but mashing low and pitching well seems to help. I've got a cascade hopped pale ale on day 4 in the primary right now -- we'll see what attenuation I get out of it. It was down from 53 to 17 in 2 days. Temperature wise, Deschutes ferments everything at 64/65 from listening to the CYBI show interviews w/ the brewers.

Any thoughts on the best way to coax these strains to ~75% attenuation?

I have a batch at 65 I was rousing every few waking hours the first 3 days. I pitched slurry from a 2L starter (from a WLP002 vial) and mashed at 152. TBD on outcome. Once it finishes I'll ramp it up to 70 for a diacetyl rest before kegging and dry hopping.

Any thoughts on the best way to coax these strains to ~75% attenuation?

I have a batch at 65 I was rousing every few waking hours the first 3 days. I pitched slurry from a 2L starter (from a WLP002 vial) and mashed at 152. TBD on outcome. Once it finishes I'll ramp it up to 70 for a diacetyl rest before kegging and dry hopping.

Well I went back and talked to an assistant brewer and most all of their beers use the same house yeast. He indicated that it is a Wyeast product and is a type of english ale yeast that is produced specifically for them and not commercially available. So it sounds like 1968 may be the best option.

I brewed this over the weekend and ended up pitching on a cake of Wyeast 1968. It worked out really well, though I am a little surprised by the color - I thought it would be darker in the fermenter. I guess its not really that much roasted barley though, I think I've used more barley than that in an imperial red.